September 22, 2012

UK: Common antibiotic boosts spread of deadly superbug

New research has found that cases of MRSA - a bacteria that causes serious infections of the skin, blood, lungs and bones - decreased when prescriptions of ciprofloxacin were reduced, suggesting that the common antibiotic is helping the deadly superbug spread through hospitals.

The University of London research- published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy - also challenged the widely held belief that improved hygiene and hand-washing significantly hinders the spread of the bug, the Daily Star reported.

For the study, researchers led by St George's, University of London, tracked MRSA infection over 10 years from 1999 to 2009 at St George's Hospital, looking at how it has adapted to survive in a hospital environment and what factors affected its prevalence.

They found that a significant drop in MRSA rates coincided with a reduction in hospital prescriptions of ciprofloxacin, the most commonly prescribed antibiotic of the fluoroquinolone family.

MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, causes hospital-acquired infection and is resistant to all of the penicillin-type antibiotics frequently used in hospitals to prevent and treat infection.

Hand-washing and strict hygiene procedures do reduce the spread of the bug, but the St George''s study found that they appeared to have only a small effect on lowering MRSA infection rates during the period studied.

During a short period at the hospital, ciprofloxacin prescriptions fell from 70-100 daily doses for every 1,000 occupied beds to about 30 doses. In the same timeframe, the number of patients identified by the laboratory to be infected with MRSA fell by half, from an average of about 120 a month to around 60.

Over the final two years of the study, both the drug prescription level and MRSA rates remained at the reduced levels. It is not known how many of the cases examined in the study were serious.

Comments

New research has found that cases of MRSA - a bacteria that causes serious infections of the skin, blood, lungs and bones - decreased when prescriptions of ciprofloxacin were reduced, suggesting that the common antibiotic is helping the deadly superbug spread through hospitals.

The University of London research- published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy - also challenged the widely held belief that improved hygiene and hand-washing significantly hinders the spread of the bug, the Daily Star reported.

For the study, researchers led by St George's, University of London, tracked MRSA infection over 10 years from 1999 to 2009 at St George's Hospital, looking at how it has adapted to survive in a hospital environment and what factors affected its prevalence.

They found that a significant drop in MRSA rates coincided with a reduction in hospital prescriptions of ciprofloxacin, the most commonly prescribed antibiotic of the fluoroquinolone family.

MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, causes hospital-acquired infection and is resistant to all of the penicillin-type antibiotics frequently used in hospitals to prevent and treat infection.

Hand-washing and strict hygiene procedures do reduce the spread of the bug, but the St George''s study found that they appeared to have only a small effect on lowering MRSA infection rates during the period studied.

During a short period at the hospital, ciprofloxacin prescriptions fell from 70-100 daily doses for every 1,000 occupied beds to about 30 doses. In the same timeframe, the number of patients identified by the laboratory to be infected with MRSA fell by half, from an average of about 120 a month to around 60.

Over the final two years of the study, both the drug prescription level and MRSA rates remained at the reduced levels. It is not known how many of the cases examined in the study were serious.